Spa Day

This morning was a spa day of sorts for the girls. Willa has an appearance coming up and is looking a bit shaggy. I try to keep both dogs well groomed particularly in the heat of the summer. In Willa’s case she still has the reverse Mohawk from her time at LSU. I worked on the margins of the clip to ease the edges a bit, blending it in. I also take care of nails and that oh-so long between the toes hair that makes their feet slip on the wood floors.

It was while I was trimming Willa’s back feet and clipping her nails that I noticed something. Willa does NOT like me to mess with her paws, particularly her nails. Now, I am pretty good when it comes to nail trimming, but Willa is a squirmy bag of trembling dog flesh when nail trimming time rolls around. So I sit on the floor with the stinkiest of stinky treats and prop Willa on her back so I can control her and her foot. She resists but the treats keep her in place for the 18 snips it takes to finish the job. Then, when I finish the front ten, I pivot her 180 degrees so I can do the back 8. At this point she’s panting but not struggling anymore.

So, she’s laying on her back, mouth open, and I grab my camera and snap this…

OK, so there is a bit of Salmon jammed in there too, but what I see is fresh pink palate and a very small grey spot. Compare this to the first shot and you can see that it looks like it is healing. Add to this the fact that she is choosing to chew her hard chews on that side and I think her mouth is healing. She still has the chapped lips from the radiation treatment, but that looks better every day too.

I still have a bit more clipping to do before they are ready for “show” (and I’ll post pictures when I finish) but I wanted you all to see for yourselves. This has been a good, although very hot, day. I think we’ll be playing in the sprinklers later today…

How Health Care Should Be

Mary Jane and I are heading to Chicago for a couple days for the SharePoint Connections Coast to Coast technical conference for me, speaking about SharePoint, and Mary Jane ‘cause she’s never been. We have been feeling good lately because on our last visit it Dr. Brown said “it appears that the tumor is smaller”. I had snuck a peek at it during one of Willa’s yawns and thought the same thing, now I had independent confirmation. In mind, “small tumor” is better than “big tumor”, but not as good as “no tumor”.

Running through our preflight checklist went something like this:

• Cloths for 3 days – CHECK
• Computer and Presentation Notes  - CHECK
• Boarding Passes – CHECK
• Take care of the green stuff coming out of Willa’s mouth…

Over the weekend we took Willa and Ruby swimming on Lake Austin. My buddy Bren met us at a favorite location with Oso and Happy to get the dogs some water time and ease our guilt over leaving them behind. Willa would rather swim than anything else, so it works well to keep her fit and limber in the heat of the summer. For Ruby it’s all about seeing Oso and swimming, running and swimming, chasing dragon flies and swimming.

I noticed that Willa was snoring a bit more than usual on Friday night by Sunday she was snoring a bit more than me. When I was bathing her after swimming Sunday she has green slime on the corner of her mouth. Careful application of the shampoo removed the slime and the blood from a week of sleeping with the tumor in her mouth. (Accentuating her beautiful white muzzle even more.) We became most concerned when Willa began having trouble eating wet food. By this morning we actually switched her to dry food to help her eat.

With our 9:30 departure looming we called LSU and HOT Vets to get a consultation on the situation. Both vets postulated that Willa’s tumor and the tissues around it are beginning to slough off and we need to switch antibiotics to keep the bugs away. We were able to arrange for the Amazing Bren to pick up the drugs and Willa’s Aunt Judy (our loving neighbor of 13 years) to administer the antibiotics while we’re gone. Again, LSU and HOT Vets jumped to our aid when they realized the time crunch, Westlake Animal Hospital made the arrangements for us to get the meds after a call from HOT Vets. Everyone was amazing in their desire to help us and Willa in under 90 minutes. (Try getting that kind of health care as a human!)

So with a little less guilt we’re off to Chicago with thoughts of our great weekend together. We’re also thinking about less slime, healthy dogs, temperatures less than the “surface-o-the-sun” temps we’ve been having in Austin. Mostly we’re thinking about Willa as she fights the cancer and the side effects and the wonderful care givers that we have to look after Willa, rain or shine.

Here’s a quick video of the dogs at the lake. You can see that, aside from Willa’s hair cut, she is still energetic and playful. (Check out Ruby’s two jumps!)

Crazy Dog on the grass and playing with Ruby and Oso

Games for Search Dogs

There are 3 things that the Doc told us to avoid: fetch, jogging and swimming. Willa does not jog (well, I don’t jog so Willa doesn’t either) but she LOVES to chase a tennis ball and would walk over hot coals to get to a swimming pool. So we’re trying to find creative ways to keep Willa and Ruby entertained. I have not had the time to work Ruby much since the Air Show so I decided to break out the scent boxes and work her and Willa.

I let Ruby go first. It was a simple exercise 2 only boxes. She sniffed both boxes, chose the right on and laid down a perfect alert. MJ and I were stunned, I could not believe that she remembered what to do after all this time.

I let Willa go next. She did it perfectly and gave me a great alert. I like the exercise because she has to bend her knee to do her alert. We did a few reps and called it a day.

Clean Bill of Health

Willa’s visit to the doctor was great. The doc say’s she’s 85% healed and has no fluid around her knee. This means that she can be unrestricted in the house and take longer walks. She can also start therapy to build her leg muscle back. This week it’s walking up and down hill. The neighbors driveway is steep and close by. 5 reps, 3 times a day for the week. Willa goes up easily though she balks at the trip downhill.

Ruby and Willa are getting along better. Here’s a shot of the two of them, Ruby is showing her “Sympathy Leg”.

Claws and Effect

Willa is doing great. A little too well actually. She is tired of being cooped up and ready to rid the back yard of vermin squirrels and doves.

I noticed the other day she was really working on her paws. Upon further inspection I noticed that her nails had grown REALLY long. This has never been an issue before because she is so active that she keeps her nails trimmed simply by running on the concrete. In the past I only had to trim her dewclaws.

So, break out the treats! It’s nail trimming time!

9 more days to the reevaluation.

It’s the little things

We are happy to see small signs that Willa is feeling better. her favorite position on the couch is on her back, “dead bug”. Today during our “24” marathon, she stretched out her new knee more than I have seen in a week and rolled onto her back. You can see the extent of her shave and her stitches.

Her stitches and scar look great. Very clean and dry. Still have to wait ‘till Friday to get them out. Tomorrow will be 1 week.

PostOp Digestive Issues

Willa is a two-a-day pooper. Like clockwork. Following her surgery she was less consistent. She was antsy and irregular. Her anus was irritated and she would try to poop every time we went outside. I could tell she was uncomfortable.

She usually gets a cup of Wellness Senior and a couple tablespoons of ID. In her youth she had some indigestion issues and so, prior to Katrina, we started her on ID just in case. Well that fixed her occasional vomiting so we never took her off of it.

Now I worry that she is constipated. Ordinarily we add active culture yogurt to her diet to kick start her intestinal flora. This time my friend Dennis recommended Pumpkin. 1 Tablespoon one meal a day. We also added a teaspoon of Olive Oil. 24 hours later and the poop factory is back in business.

Her first poops were small and seriously compacted. Now they are fluffy and comfortable for her. I love this tip because it can happen to your pet anytime they suffer a big change in their environment.

CCL Surgery Post Op

We picked up Willa this afternoon from the surgical center. Central Texas Veterinary Specialty Hospital is where Willa’s boyfriend Kobe had his knee repaired last year. Dr. Kerpsack is all business, he came highly recommended and I totally understand why. He educated us on what went wrong and different techniques to fix it. He squeezed us in, evaluated and admitted Willa immediately. I was relieved when he called to tell us that the surgery was “Boring and uneventful”. One of the possible complications that result from a Cranial Cruciate Ligament tear is a torn meniscus. In our case Willa only transected her CCL and the meniscus was intact.

So, her post-op radiograph look like this:

If you love your dogs coat as much as we do you have to prepare yourself for the shave job they do on your dog. Not only is Willa shaved from hock to her spine, but she has a little midline patch taken off of her spine where they administered her epidural. Plus her front paw is shaved for the IV.

Elizabethan Collar

Willa was sent home with an Elizabethan collar. The E-collar is a royal pain in the ass. Quite a while ago we trained Willa to not mess with bandages, sutures or staples. “How?” you may wonder…after she was spayed we spent a couple hours pumping her full of treats when she stayed away from them and put an e-collar on when she would not. She caught on pretty fast. All your hard work on obedience training pays huge dividends at difficult times like these. We don’t take our eyes off of her. So far she is staying away from her sutures.

Therapy and love

We were sent home with very specific instructions for Willa’s mobility. She is only allowed to walk to go out to eliminate and then back to rest. Willa is a dog of action. If she hears the squirrels in the back yard it is her DUTY to scare them off. She will have to transfer that responsibility to Ruby for the time being. They recommended ice packs 4 times a day for 10 minutes if Willa would tolerate it. She does. In fact I am pleased that she just wants the attention.

For today I think that’s it. Gotta figure out where we’re gonna sleep.

A night without Willa

OK, this sucks. We admitted Willa for surgery to repair her CCL. A great friend of mine suggested I start a journal to chronicle Willa’s recovery. Aki’s dog Jazzy (my most favorite BC ever!) had the same surgery just a few days ago. (Weird isn’t it?) Jazzy and Willa deployed together on Katrina and Ike. You can see her journal at http://cclinjury.blogspot.com/